Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Spare by Prince Harry

68 reviews

jewelleryjen's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

3.25

I don't have much of an interest in the Royal family and I would never have picked up this book if it hadn't been for a review on YouTube by Leena Norms. I saw headlines about Megan and Harry leaving the family and was interested in their side of it. 
This book was very interesting, it smacks of privilege (having a bad time?!- fly to Botswana and escape) but of course it does, the guy was a Prince and doesn't know anything else. There are parts where I can see he's trying to say he's normal, but it made me cringe as it seemed very inauthentic (I shop in TK maxx and dry my laundry on the radiators round my flat). If you can give him the benefit of the doubt on those things this book is hugely telling. It's mostly about death, the press and his search for belonging. The entire family are utterly dysfunctional and he doesn't shy away from talking about it. They are expected to do what they're told, or what is tradition, and never show emotions, not even to each other. 
This is an enjoyable book to read, the chapters are short and easy.
I missed out on some of it as I didn't know who he was talking about when referencing cousins etc and there were stories from papers that I'd never read or heard of, but it didn't stop me enjoying it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, War, Racism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

cleotheo's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Abandonment, War, Drug use, Torture, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Grief, Classism, Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation

Minor: Racism and Pandemic/Epidemic

siankrb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

An honest, funny and moving account of Prince Harry’s life and the challenges that come with being the spare. I thought the book particularly picked up in the third section, talking about Meghan and recent events. Took me a while to get through but I ended up being very moved. Appreciated having an insight into a life completely different from my own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Moderate: Antisemitism, Gore, Abortion, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Racism, Addiction, Confinement, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

dev921's review

emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Drug use, Medical trauma, Cursing, Stalking, Blood, Classism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Self harm, War, Infidelity, and Mental illness

bgirl_jazz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Miscarriage, Classism, Colonisation, and Racism

ms4321's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

While this didn't completely warm me to Harry himself, you can't but have sympathy for him and Meghan by the end of it. His difficulty to come to terms with his mother's death and the racism Meghan experienced from the British tabloids was horrible.

The memoir itself was fairly well written. Although, it did get a little wishy-washy for my taste at times.  (Yes, Harry very much seems to be his father's son in that respect). The philosophical talking fox, moon and dust bin was a bit much for me. 

Personally, I didn't find the military escapades or drug induced self-destruction very interesting. I'm not pro-war or pro-military and I'm not interested in Harry's recreational drug use. This was something that made up a good chunk of the centre of the book and kind of slowed everything down for me.

His descriptions of Africa were a bit strange and problematic (very heart of darkness), especially considering they were coming from the perspective of someone whose direct ancestors colonialised half the planet. 

I thought the whole situation with Harry, William and Charles seemed a bit petty (but unsurprisingly so) on all sides. It just kind of made me wonder if these three grown men have anything better to be doing than dragging each other in the media.  

On the whole, this was a quick enough read if you listen to it as an audiobook and it gives an insight into Harry, his experiences and the lives of the current royal family. Although there was a few off the wall stories I'd rather wipe from my mind forever, 'Spare' does,  more or less, exactly what it says on the tin. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Drug use

Moderate: Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Racism, War, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

sarah_hutchins's review

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

The story was interesting to me and it held my attention a lot more than I thought. I can’t really find anything I didn’t like about it that stood out other than I think it could've used a bit more editing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: War, Stalking, Car accident, Death, and Islamophobia

Minor: Colonisation, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Misogyny

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Violence, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Classism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Murder, and Miscarriage

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

It's an incredibly readable, interesting and engaging memoir, if maybe a little too in-depth in some areas for my liking (good on his ghost writer for doing so well there). I think that this reveals a lot of the petty and retrograde ways that the monarchy works and it just doesn't make me feel like there's any real possibility it could be made to work in a modern era. I have a lot of thoughts after reading this but they basically boil down to:

1 - Being thrust to the level of fame that he has without someone's consent should be classified as a form of abuse, and good on Harry and Meghan for keeping their kids out of this horrible and toxic environment.
2 - it is amazing he is as normal and, like, socially conscious as he is considering he comes from the least normal and socially progressive environments. Like, he's still incredibly privileged and he's never going to, like, join the revolution, but damn at least he's tried to learn. I liked that he took ownership of the racist things he's done, and I think it shows a level of maturity to not just brush it off and blame how he was raised. I am still feeling real ambivalent about all of the war chapters.
3 - I think Meghan has earned the right to complain to the end of time I truly did not know the extent of the racism and hate spewed at her and I even had watched the documentary before this. Literally gasped in my car when he was reading off the headlines and stories about her. I cannot believe the royal family simply pretended they didn't have the money to help protect them. Like, good on Harry for shouting it from the rooftops. 
4 - It feels like he is so close to realizing that the institution of the monarch and The Firm is like inherently corrupt, but can't quite get himself to admit it (which, I get, it's his family). But his anger is mostly at the press, and he can't quite get himself to damn his family (though I will, they all suck).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Racial slurs, Sexism, War, Miscarriage, Racism, and Colonisation

choufrise's review

emotional informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Grief, and Drug abuse

Minor: Car accident, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts